Brake is finished / still working on CAD

[tom37]

Here's the last set of pics of my sheet brake.

I finished this project with a smile. So far it has preformed as planned. My goal was to bend sheet metal up to 1/8" for drawers and tool boxes. I would also like to use it to bend brackets up to 1/4" until I can build a press brake.





I do have a set of handles for the heavy stuff but there not needed for sheet metal such as in the lower right corner of the second set of pics. In time I would like to fab some sort of a spring mechanism that would have the clamp down plate preloaded in the up position. For now I am just using a washer and a nut on the clamping bolt on each side. Effective but not pretty.

I do plan on finishing my 3D CAD for this. If anyone would like more pics or the part of the cad that is finished just pm me and I can send or post.

Thanks for looking, If anyone happens to see an area for improvement please say so.

Tom

[fabricator]

Kinda hard to see from the small pics,but it looks good from what i can see.

[welderdude402]

looks like it turned out to work quite well. good job

[57Belair]

looks good

[groove]

Nice job!
I will be looking for a set of drawings when their done!

[tom37]

Sorry for the pic issues, I was trying something new and it didnt work as well as I thought it would.

Groove, I will post as soon as I manage to fumble my way thru the 3D stuff, my skills are poor in that area tho so it may take a few weeks. Fair weather tends to draw me outdoors. Good weather makes for a good reason to cut, bend, and weld.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

[Geezer]

Sorry for the pic issues, I was trying something new and it didnt work as well as I thought it would.

Groove, I will post as soon as I manage to fumble my way thru the 3D stuff, my skills are poor in that area tho so it may take a few weeks. Fair weather tends to draw me outdoors. Good weather makes for a good reason to cut, bend, and weld.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

I have been following this all along, good job. Anxious to see your CAD diagrams

[tom37]

Thanks for the pleasant words everyone. I know that I am far from prefect, although with all the nice good words I feel as if I am learning and getting better slowly. Practice and little steps is what it takes I hear.

Please dont expect to much on the drawings guys, thats a new can of worms that I have just started to open.

Thanks again, it really feels good to hear nice thoughts from others about projects.

[tom37]

Alright here is three 3-D cad pics that I exported into a 2-D jpeg. Please keep in mind that I am no expert by any means. I want to learn it to the point that if I want to crank out a quick drawing and have it to scale, and ready to build from, I can.







If someone wants the sketch-up file I will gladly send it to ya. I am still trying to learn how to make my drawing open in a link that will let it be manipulated right in that screen, with out using sketch-up.

I am positive that my drawings dont hold a candle to most, but its a start.

If anyone is going to use the numbers for a build PLEASE PLEASE double check the math. This is where I started for my build, and I most likely deviated from the plan slightly, forgetting to update the cad. ?? That is normal isnt it ??

Tom

[welderdude402]

That's what I don't like about most of the free CAD programs. They seem harder to figure out, although I learned on AutoCAD. Also, the only bad thing about AutoCAD is that it's about a $1200 program